Nope, america will always be ran by corperations.

I don't see how that can happen - not as long as they are governed as they are now.

Soon. The way the economy is going, it seems like the government isn't doing to badly for the country.

Well lets see, China is the secondest largest nation, it has a bunch of natural resources, it already outproduces most other countries, it is opening its borders to allow for the exploitation of its workers which will bring it more wealth, and it owns a load of US bonds which it can threaten to sell if the US pisses them off. I don't see how they will not be the power house.

India could overtake them.

As long as they remain communist, it will never happen.

China is communist only in name, internally they have a very free market system, although the government still controls the inflation rate and such, the controls over labour are virtually none. That is proven by the estimated 120 million unemployed (which does not happen in communism) estimation by the CIA World Factbook, although other estimates reach 300 million. Also, just because a country is communist does not mean they can not be economically powerful. France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, the UK et cetera are all socialist (yes I know that is not the same thing) and they are very compatible. As soon as the IMF stops enforcing terrible restrictions on the countries it gives loans to then communist nations will be able to succeed economically.

Yes, because America is drat*ng up big time.

bogchump: If that is so, why does Hong Kong do so much better economically than the rest of China?

noldor: Do you know how well China is actually doing?

Hmmm, they're doing better than I thought. More power to them if they are finally embracing capitalism.

Hong Kong was a British colony, it was built up industrially by the British, so of course it is doing better than the rest of the nation, which had to do it on its own.

It's predicted that China is burning out. It looks like it's doing well only because it's being exploited by countless corporations. But as soon as they stop being the cheapest place to do business, the corporations will move on and China will be in the sh*t.

So I hear. I don't really understand economics.

I see it happening.

possibly... not like we're well off..

I dont think so.

They will get up there, but I am not convinced that they will be the highest economic power. I actually think that the joined forces of the EU will be next to run world finances.

I don't think so. As of right now, they're simply being exploited, which isn't a good sign for their future.

Creating the cheap little McDonalds toys fuels the economy.

China is definitely on their way up. It's hard to compete with their cheap and plentiful labor force...

Malletman says: As of right now, they're simply being exploited, which isn't a good sign for their future.

You mean exploited as the United States workers were at the turn of the 20th century? Seems like the US did pretty well.

China is the most populous country in the world and is adopting a free market economy that will ultimately surpass the US. In fact, I believe many economists see their GNP surpassing the US's within the next 20 years. So, the US will drop from our current second (behind the EEU) to third.

China is obviously one of the most important countries, economically speaking, even right now. While China is strongly going up, other superpowers' economies like Russia and the US are going down. So, I think the near future is reserved to the EU and China.